turn your iphone into a modem? PdaNet?

[truz]

So.. I'm planning a road trip back to Florida from Colorado in 2 weeks. I would like to use my laptop while on the road or let my wife while I'm driving.

I have been doing some research and it seems PdaNet is the best way to go for turning your iphone into a modem.

My main question is, is it worth jailbreaking your phone? I understand it voids your warranty, however is jailbreaking worth it? Is there a risk of your phone not working? If the jailbreaking screws up, can you do a simple restore in itunes and all works well or is there a different restore process when you jailbreak your iphone?

Thanks!

 

[Renegade89]

It doesn't void your warranty, all its doing is modifying the software a bit. You can easily restore it in iTunes to non-jailbroken form without any way to tell it was jailbroken. I believe its very worth it... all reward no risk to me honestly, because if it actually messed up my phone, I would just restore and be good... But I love having a video camera, a useful flashlight, tethering (pdanet), backgrounding, winterboard, iBlacklist, etc, etc.

 

[speedracer3000]

QuickPwn is pretty easy, it automates just about all the steps. It's harder with QuickPwn for you to screwup but yes when you do you can easily restore.

As a tip, if you have a lot of apps, I would do a full backup in itunes, then a clean 2.1 firmware restore to a bare bone phone, run QuickPwn, then restore the saved apps and data from the backup. QuickPwn and Pwnage Tool have the tendency to hang on the pineapple logo if there are several pages of apps. I thought I bricked my iphone when I first ran into that problem.

Anyway, it's definitely worth it. I'd jailbreak just for PdaNet.
Good luck!

 

[truz]

Is there any decent websites that explain the jailbreaking process and location of files?

 

[thechidz]

pda net uses a lot of battery so make sure you have a car charger for the phone

 

[truz]

I do have one, however I'll most likely be using the usb port on the laptop while driving. As the laptop will be plugged in.

 

[ilfn143]

yes it worth every penny.... oh wait it's free pdanet just updated i haven't try the new version (suppose to drain less battery) but last time i use it, it drain battery faster than usb can charge it so careful. maybe this new version is better.

 

[thechidz]

I do have one, however I'll most likely be using the usb port on the laptop while driving. As the laptop will be plugged in.

I get the impression you still lose power quick on usb, it will probably only last you an hour that way.

 

[hotshotharry]

jail breaking is the only option to get the full potential of your iphone.

Pdanet is fantastic.

If i use standard usb power the iphone battery charge tends to creep up and down, if i start at 100% it usually stays there. If i use the usb mini power adapter (included) or a powered usb hub it will actually charge slowly.

Get yourself a nice power inverter 300 - 400 watts and a splitter so you can power your gear on the road

 

[amaverma]

I understand that PDAnet allows you to connect to the internet via WiFi. Though, if you are not in a WiFi area, and you do not have a data plan for your 3G iphone that is jailbroken, can you still surf the internet? I am currently with ROGERS.

 

[thechidz]

I understand that PDAnet allows you to connect to the internet via WiFi. Though, if you are not in a WiFi area, and you do not have a data plan for your 3G iphone that is jailbroken, can you still surf the internet? I am currently with ROGERS.

I don think you understand, pdanet uses your data plan to connect, which, if you don't have, means that you cannot connect. If you are somewhere with wifi just connect your laptop to the wifi for access, no need to use the iphone

 

[miesemer]

No Longer Free

yes it worth every penny.... oh wait it's free pdanet just updated i haven't try the new version (suppose to drain less battery) but last time i use it, it drain battery faster than usb can charge it so careful. maybe this new version is better.

If you upgrade to PDAnet Version 1.4 it is no longer free. You'll get a "trial period has ended" popup after a few days or hours of use. Version 1.33 appears to be free from the "trial period". It looks like JuneFabrics is trying to get $29 for version 1.4.

Since iPhone Modem is $9.95 I'm considering switching to it for the rare occasion that I would need to tether. Does anyone have a comparisons of iPhone Modem vs. PDAnet?